--- title: A Brief History Of: Hangover Cures description: Whatever your reasons — celebration, loneliness, attempting to figure out what "Auld Lang Syne" actually means — if you drank too much on Dec. 31, you probably rang in the New Year with a... canonical: https://time.com/archive/6687329/a-brief-history-of-hangover-cures/ author: Claire Suddath article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2008-12-31T05:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-27T10:49:11.622Z article:section: Health og:title: A Brief History Of: Hangover Cures og:description: Whatever your reasons — celebration, loneliness, attempting to figure out what "Auld Lang Syne" actually means — if you drank too much on Dec. 31, you probably rang in the New Year with a... og:url: https://time.com/archive/6687329/a-brief-history-of-hangover-cures/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3668606635051c2c/698a47354ee262185b31c836/360_brhistory_0112.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 360 og:image:height: 203 og:image:alt: 360_brhistory_0112.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Brief History Of: Hangover Cures twitter:description: Whatever your reasons — celebration, loneliness, attempting to figure out what "Auld Lang Syne" actually means — if you drank too much on Dec. 31, you probably rang in the New Year with a... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3668606635051c2c/698a47354ee262185b31c836/360_brhistory_0112.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # A Brief History Of: Hangover Cures > Sponsored content. 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Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Claire Suddath](https://time.com/author/claire-suddath/) Dec 31, 2008 5:00 AM UTC  Liquor was a bad idea: 1940s-era revelers recover from New Year's Eve celebrations in New York's Grand Central station Liquor was a bad idea: 1940s-era revelers recover from New Year's Eve celebrations in New York's Grand Central station Hulton Archive / Getty by [Claire Suddath](https://time.com/author/claire-suddath/) Dec 31, 2008 5:00 AM UTC Whatever your reasons — celebration, loneliness, attempting to figure out what “Auld Lang Syne” actually means — if you drank too much on Dec. 31, you probably rang in the New Year with a pounding headache and regular trips to the bathroom. If so, don’t worry; you wouldn’t be the first person to endure a hangover, and although it may feel like it, you won’t be the last. When the ancient Assyrians felt the painful aftereffects of excess merriment, they consumed a mixture of ground birds’ beaks and myrrh. In the Middle Ages, bleary Europeans munched on raw eel and bitter almonds. Mongolians ate pickled sheep’s eyes, while the Chinese went with a more palatable dose of green tea. The Germans eat Katerfrühstück, a postbinge breakfast of herring, pickles and goulash. Russians don’t eat anything at all; they jump into the sauna and sweat it out. In 1845, Italian Bernardino Branca developed a cure-all he called Fernet — an 80-proof concoction containing myrrh, rhubarb, aloe, peppermint oil and opiates — to treat ailments like hangovers and cholera. Fernet is still available (now opiate-free), although it’s usually served as an after-dinner drink. American remedies typically include tomato juice and occasionally a raw egg (for protein), although the past decade has seen the debut of pills that supposedly help the liver by absorbing toxins. But alcohol’s by-products are only part of the problem: dehydration and out-of-whack electrolytes can’t be fixed with a pill. A traditional Japanese remedy, umeboshi (pickled plums), is currently touted by Hollywood nutritionist Esther Blum. But whatever your tonic of choice, remember that it probably won’t work. 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